Comparison
Website subscription or owning it: the five-year arithmetic
Monthly website packages start at around £40 a month. Over five years that is £2,400, and at the end of it the site is not yours. A one-off build at £499 is yours from the day it launches. Here is the full comparison, including the cases where the subscription is genuinely the better choice.
- £40/mo is £2,400 over 5 years
- Our sites from £249
- You own it outright
The two models, plainly
A subscription website is rented. You pay a monthly fee that covers the design, the hosting, the updates and usually some support, and the site remains the provider's property. Stop paying and the site comes down. You cannot normally take it elsewhere, because what you were buying was access rather than an asset.
An owned website is bought once. You pay a build cost, the site is yours including the code and the content, and hosting and support are separate arrangements you can keep, change or take elsewhere. If you fall out with whoever built it, you move the site and keep everything.
Both are legitimate ways to sell a website and both suit somebody. What is not legitimate is presenting the monthly figure without ever putting the five-year total next to it, which is why this page exists.
How we build and price an owned site is set out on our page about web design in Nottinghamshire.
What each model actually costs and gives you
| Subscription at £40/mo | Owned, built once | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost in year one | £480 | From £249, or £499 for a brand-led business site |
| Cost over five years | £2,400 | The build, plus hosting and any care plan you choose |
| Do you own it at the end | No | Yes, from the day it launches |
| Can you move it elsewhere | Not normally | Yes, including the code and content |
| What happens if you stop paying | The site comes down | The site is still yours |
| Design | Usually a template from a set | Custom, built around your brand |
| Changing something structural | Limited to what the platform allows | Anything, at a quoted price |
| Hosting and updates | Included | Included first year, then a care plan or your own arrangement |
| Upfront cost | Little or none | The build cost, paid once |
Where the subscription genuinely wins
Cash flow is a real argument and it is the honest one. A business that cannot find several hundred pounds this month but can find forty is better off with a site than without one, and no amount of arithmetic about year five changes that. If that is your position, take the subscription and revisit it when things are easier.
Second, a business that expects to need a site for a year or two, perhaps for a specific venture, is not going to recover a build cost. Renting is the right call for anything genuinely temporary.
Third, a business with nobody to deal with a supplier relationship may simply want one bill and one number, with no decisions attached. That is a preference rather than an economic argument, but it is a legitimate one and worth saying out loud.
What none of those cases justify is a business five or six years into a subscription, paying for a site it does not own, that has not changed structurally since it launched. That is the position we are usually asked to look at, and by then the money spent has comfortably exceeded what a custom build and five years of hosting would have cost.
Questions worth asking any monthly website provider
These are all fair questions and a good provider will answer them plainly.
- If I stop paying, what happens to the site and to the domain name?
- Do I own the design and the content, and can I take them with me?
- Is the domain registered in my name, or in yours?
- What is the notice period, and is there anything to pay on leaving?
- Can I have a copy of the site and the database if I ask for one?
- What is included in the monthly fee, and what is charged on top?
- How much has the monthly fee risen in the last three years?
- Who has the logins to the analytics and the Google Business Profile?
The domain name is the part that catches people
Of everything on this page, the domain matters most and gets checked least. A website can be rebuilt. A domain name that a former supplier holds in their own name, with your years of search history attached to it, is a genuine problem and an unpleasant negotiation.
Check today whose name your domain is registered in. It takes two minutes and it is worth doing whichever model you are on.
- The domain should be registered to your business, not your supplier
- You should hold the registrar login, or be able to get it on request
- The same applies to analytics and your Google Business Profile
On a subscription and wondering whether to move?
Send us what you pay a month, how long you have been paying it and what your site is built on. We will tell you what you have spent so far, what a replacement would cost, and whether moving is worth it in your case.
Sometimes it is not, particularly if you are in the first year or two. We will say so.
Get in touch
Talk to us about subscription vs owning
A few lines is enough. We will tell you straight whether we can help, what it would cost and how quickly we can be there. No hard sell, and no follow-up sequence if you decide against it.
- We reply within one working day
- A straight answer, including when it is no
- Free process review available, before any money changes hands
Would rather just ring? 01623 354250, Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm.
Frequently asked questions
If the answer is not here, ask us. You will get a straight one, from someone who does the work.
Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm
Is a website subscription bad value?
Not automatically. It is good value for a business that needs a site now and cannot fund a build, or that needs one only temporarily. It becomes poor value when it runs for years, because £40 a month is £2,400 over five years and you own nothing at the end of it.
What do I actually own with a subscription website?
Usually access rather than an asset. The design, the build and often the hosting remain the provider's, and the site comes down if you stop paying. Ask specifically whether you own the design and content and whether you can take a copy, and get the answer in writing.
How much does it cost to own a website outright?
Our sites start at £249 for a five-page starter and £499 for a brand-led business site, with online shops from £1,250. That is a one-off price with the first year of hosting included, and the site is yours from launch.
Can I move a subscription website to my own hosting?
Usually not, which is the point of the model. You can normally take the domain, the content and the copy you have written, and rebuild elsewhere. That is why checking whose name the domain is registered in matters more than anything else.
What ongoing costs are there with an owned website?
Hosting, which is included with us for the first year, and optionally a care plan covering updates, backups and small changes. Both are separate and optional, and you can host and maintain the site anywhere you like.